One writer's attempt to not be so lazy.

A few weeks later, things were not looking quite as good. Riley, who was normal calm and cool under pressure, was freaking out on two different fronts.

The first front was the well being of the city while she was gone. She was leaving the city in perfectly capable hands, having recruited her old FBI pal, Mattie Cervantez, and Mattie’s time traveling girlfriend, Darcy Thatcher. Mattie was a short, tough, street smart spitfire and could trade quips faster than even Riley herself. Darcy was her compliment, tall, often stoic, no nonsense with a sense of humor that only came out with the people closest to her.

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Mattie and Darcy were the perfect candidates to keep an eye on the city was Riley was gone. They’d come along on a few of Riley’s tougher missions recently and she knew they could handle themselves. A little too well sometimes, especially when explosives were involved. At any rate, they could keep the city under control, at least enough that wouldn’t completely destroy itself while Riley was gone for the weekend.

Still, Riley was worried. She had never left H City alone for this long. She wondered if this is what it felt like to drop a kid off at kindergarten for the first time.

Riley picked up the wedding invitation and opened it. “What did Matt and Greg think about Dave picking you to be his best man instead of one of them?”

AJ shrugged. “They were cool with it. I mean, Matt was Greg’s best man so he had his turn and Dave and I were always closer growing up anyway. Mom wasn’t too happy about it. She wanted me to be one of Danielle’s bridesmaids instead.”

AJ looked at Riley expectedly and Riley knew she must be desperate. AJ had been her best friend for nearly fifteen years and knew better than anyone that Riley was about as useful as a pet rock when it came to dealing with emotions. She thought for a moment and finally said, “Maybe you're overthinking. Maybe you don't have to explain Artemis. Just throw some normal clothes on her and let that big smile and charm of hers do the rest. You know people can't help but like her.”

It was true. Riley had never seen Artemis’s natural charm fail. There was just something about her that made people like her. It had even worked on Riley who wanted so badly to be annoyed with her when they first met.

AJ knew she was right. “That’s true. She is pretty likeable.” AJ’s lopsided grin had returned but only for a moment. “Now all I have to worry about is the whole gay thing. Dad’s side of the family is going to have a field day.”

Riley knew that while AJ’s mom came from San Francisco hippies and her dad was open minded and accepting of his daughter, his family of Bible Belt conservatives wasn't likely to be. She shrugged. "Hey, at least you don't have your whole family constantly hounding you about giving up a respectable career and a good husband to be a ghostbuster.”

AJ laughed. “Still? After all these years and everything you've done?”

“Yeah, but I don't let what anyone thinks get to me. And you shouldn't either. If anyone makes as much as one slightly homophobic remark, I'll clock them.”

“Riley Adams, that's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me,” AJ said with a big grin.

“Don't mention it.”

“Of course any gesture of love from you comes with a side of punching something.”

It was Riley’s turn to grin. “You know how much I love punching idiots.”

“If you punch enough homophobic idiots maybe they'll make you the grand marshal in the H City Pride parade next year.”

Riley had to laugh at that. “I think the city council would actually physically implode if anyone put me in a parade around here.”

AJ deposited herself into one of the chairs across the desk from Riley and pulled an envelope out of her messenger bag. “Here's something to distract you. I just got the invite for Dave’s wedding. Well, it's more for you than me since I'm in the thing.”

Riley gave her a puzzled looked. “Me? Your brother wants me to come to the wedding?”

“Sure! You know my family loves you. Plus Dave had a blast when he was staying with me and he wants everyone to come. You, Ritsuko, Jane, Betty, everyone. You can even bring Logan and Ritsuko can bring Kyle.”

“And you’re bringing Artemis, right?”

AJ’s face fell slightly at the sound of her girlfriend’s name which confused Riley. AJ and Artemis had the happiest, healthiest relationship she’d ever seen. You could tell they truly loved each other and even though Riley didn't believe in fate or destiny, she always thought that if two people were meant to be together it was AJ and Artemis. AJ usually had a big grin on her face when she talked about Artemis so it threw Riley off to see her look dismayed.

“Yeah, Artemis…"

“You don't sound happy. Did something happens between you two?”

AJ shook her head. “No, things are amazing with us. Never better. It's just…this is the first time I'm taking a girl home and that girl happens to be Artemis. The girl part I'm less worried about. But Artemis…how do I explain Artemis?”

Riley could see AJ’s problem. Artemis Bly was many things: a loyal friend, cheerfully optimistic in the face of danger, a brilliant engineer, a crack shot with a laser rifle…and also a time traveler and interdimensional adventurer who wound up in H City while chasing a demon and decided to stay. Even if she wouldn't admit it, Riley knew her best friend was nervous about bringing a girl to family event for the first time since coming out a couple of years ago. Having to explain Artemis on top of that was going to be a bit tricky.

As Riley sat at her desk contemplating all this, she heard the front door of the office open, followed by the voice of her best friend, Alice “AJ” Mitchell, greeting Jane. A second layer, AJ appeared in the doorway. She took one look at Riley and grimaced. “Rough day there, Riles?”

It was late afternoon when Riley finally slumped through the front door of her office. She's been up since noon the day before and was running on nothing but coffee and annoyance. Her secretary, Jane, looked up from her stack of paperwork, regarded her, and asked, “Long day?”

Riley glared at her. “Days,” she corrected. “Yesterday it was a long day but yesterday's mess spilled over into today. I haven't seen my bed in nearly a day and half.”

Hey there sports fans! Or fans of crazy writing projects? Either way, looks who's back! I've been neglecting this project for long enough. It's time to get back at it. I've been working hard at the gym the last couple of months and while that's been amazing I realize I need to get my creative muscles back in shape too. I put in the work at the gym every day and I should be doing that with my writing too. The best way I know how to do that is with this blog so here we go again!

From Riley Adams Hits the Road

Riley Adams was tired. Not just in a been-up-for-24-hours-and-and-every-muscle-aches kind of way but also in a busted-the-same-vampire-gang-three-times-this-week-and-this-crap-is-getting-old kind of way. Keeping H City from destroying itself day in and day out was a tiring, often thankless job and bound to wear down even someone as tough and tenacious as Riley Adams. In short, Riley was burnt out and ready, for the first time in years, for a vacation. Luckily one was about to come her way.